The commission found the IAAF president, who served for 12 years on its council before his election last summer, “could not have been unaware” of the scale of the drugs problem in Russia that has brought athletics to its knees and that he and other elected officials showed “no appetite” to tackle it or the “nepotism” that allowed his predecessor, Lamine Diack, to ­orchestrate one of the most corrupt – “criminal” – regimes ever seen in sport.

Dick Pound's report makes explosive reading

The commission also accused the Coe-led IAAF of being in “denial” over the scale of the problem facing it following its – and his – repeated claims that there had been no ­cover-up of positive drugs tests.

Responding to the report’s findings, Coe said: “The overall issue about whether or not we are in an organisation that has failed, I tell you we have. I know that. We are a failed organisation.

“I’m sorry if my language has in any way demonstrated a sort of a lack of understanding about the depth of this.”

The disgraced Lamine Diack

Despite its brutal appraisal of the IAAF’s failings and criticism of council members such as Coe, the three-strong panel chaired by ­Wada’s founding president, Dick Pound, declared him the right man to lead the organisation back from the abyss.

Coe expressed his gratitude for what was an unexpected endorsement after Pound told a packed press conference in Munich: “I don’t want to lay the failures of an entire council and the lack of a proper governance process at the feet of one individual.”

Claiming Coe, who was in the ­audience, would “learn from experience”, the Canadian added: “This is a fabulous opportunity for the IAAF to seize this opportunity and, under strong leadership, move ­forward from this, but there is an enormous amount of work to do. I can’t think of anyone better than Lord Coe to lead that.”

The report raised further questions about Coe’s judgment by ­condemning the conduct of the man he appointed his chief of staff upon ­assuming the presidency, Nick Davies.

The report contains allegations against Vladimir Putin

Davies, the IAAF’s former deputy secretary general, stepped down last month following the emergence of an email which showed him ­discussing suppressing Russian doping infractions with Diack’s son, Papa Massata, who was banned for life last week for his part in the scandal.

The report said: “The IC finds it completely inexplicable that the IAAF deputy secretary general should have entered into (or would even contemplate entering into) discussions along the lines indicated in the email to PMD dated July 19, 2013.” Davis denies any wrongdoing.

The 89-page document laid bare more shocking details of the blackmail of athletes and cover-up of drug-taking that was said to have been committed by Diack and ­others with regards to Russia, which became the first country to be banned for doping following the publication of part one of the report in November.

Vladimir Putin was personally dragged into the scandal after the second instalment cited an alleged conversation between Diack and an IAAF lawyer in which the former said the Russian doping problem had put him in a “difficult position that could only be resolved by president Putin of Russia with whom he had struck up a friendship”.

That was in reference to nine ­unresolved Russian cases ahead of the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, the staging of which was cited as one of the motivations behind the cover-up.

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko hit out at the claim, saying: “Our American colleagues and others are almost accusing our president of doping. This is absurd.”

The report found what “appears to be a connection” between the award of television rights “in return for muting the discovery of some positive samples by Russian athletes”.

It concluded a “problem” with TV rights coincided with Diack jnr securing a sponsorship arrangement with the Russian VTB Bank worth $25 million (£17.35 million).

The report stated: “It is increasingly clear that far more IAAF staff knew about the problems than has currently been acknowledged. It is not credible that elected officials were unaware of the situation ­affecting (for purposes of the IC mandate) athletics in Russia. If, therefore, the circle of knowledge was so extensive, why was nothing done? Quite obviously, there was no appetite on the part of the IAAF to challenge Russia.

“In the 2013 timeframe, the fact that the World Championships were to be held in Russia was a factor, since the IAAF wants to ensure that its World Championships are successful, even if only to validate its own choice of the host country.”

Seb Coe in the press seats for WADA press Dick Pound who says IAAF council must have been aware of doping extent pic.twitter.com/iA59TxvYYi

The press conference was followed by an update on the criminal inquiry into the scandal by the woman leading it.

Éliane Houlette, France’s financial prosecutor, revealed €87,000 (£66,600) had been seized when police arrested the former director of the IAAF’s anti-doping department, Gabriel Dollé, who was banned for five years last week.

The money, in 50, 100 and 500-euro bills, was found in eight envelopes in a safe at his home.

Lord Coe is in the spotlight

Prosecutors also seized €1.8 million (£1.36 million) from a Monaco bank account belonging to Valentin Balakhnichev, the former IAAF treasurer and president of the All-Russia Athletics Federation, who was last week banned for life.

Coe described the crisis to have engulfed his sport as a “horror show” that “pained” him. “It’s horrendous,” he added. “I’ve been in this sport a long time. You don’t sit there thinking this is the sport you started out in as an 11-year-old. I have one objective now: to get this back into safe hands. It’ll be a far longer journey than I’ll be around for.”

The key findings

Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), was "responsible for organising and enabling the conspiracy and corruption that took place in the IAAF.

Diack appeared to have created a close inner circle which functioned as "an informal illegitimate governance structure" outside the IAAF.

Diack sanctioned and appeared to have had personal knowledge of the fraud and the extortion of athletes carried out by the actions of the illegitimate governance structure he put in place.

It was "increasingly clear" that far more IAAF staff knew about the problems than has so far been acknowledged

The IAAF had an inadequate governance process in place to prevent the corruption that occurred and the checks and balances of good governance were missing.

There appeared to be no governance rules or policies regarding the employment of family members of senior IAAF staff

It was "completely improper governance" to allow supervision of suspected Russian doping cases to be separately managed by the IAAF President's personal legal counsel.

The commission found it would not have been legally possible to bring successful sanctioning processes against any athlete based on the information contained in the IAAF database.

Senior staff of the IAAF could not have been unaware of the extent of interference with normal functions within the Medical and Anti-Doping Dept. * Recommends a "forensic examination" of the processes behind the awarding of the 2021 world athletics championships to Eugene in the United States.

Russian athletics chief and IAAF treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev, and IAAF marketing consultant Pape Massata Diack, son of the then IAAF president Lamine Diack, step down while corruption and doping allegations are investigated by IAAF's ethics commission.

Independent commission set up

Dec 16, 2014

World-Anti-Doping-Agency (Wada) sets up a three-person independent commission to investigate claims headed by its former chief, Canadian Dick Pound.

New revelations

Aug 1, 2015

ARD airs second documentary "Doping - top secret: The shadowy world of athletics", featuring new accusations aimed at Russian and Kenyan athletes. ARD and The Sunday Times said they were leaked a database belonging to athletics' governing body with details of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 competitors which revealed "extraordinary" levels of doping. IAAF accused of failing to follow up suspicious tests by hundreds of athletes including world champions and Olympic medal winners.

A new president

Aug 19, 2015

British track legend Sebastian Coe - who had called the allegations a "declaration of war" on athletics - is elected to succeed Lamine Diack as IAAF president

Diack faces corruption charges

Nov 4, 2015

French police in Paris charge Diack with corruption on suspicion of accepting bribes to cover up doping cases. Diack also charged with money laundering and conspiracy. His legal advisor Habib Cisse and former IAAF anti-doping doctor Gabriel Dolle charged with corruption.

Wada publishes its report into the scandal, claiming that Russia had been guilty of state-sponsored doping on an industrial scale and that there had been a cover-up at the highest levels of the IAAF which had effectively 'sabotaged' the London 2012 Olympics. They call on Russian athletes to be banned from all competition.

Russia respond

Nov 10, 2015

Russia's sport minister Vitaly Mutko responds angrily to the claims. “You can’t just go on like this," he says. "You need to understand our sentiment. Sometimes it is just offensive. The country has done so much to provide support for sports and still all the time we have to prove something to someone."

Putin intervenes

Nov 11, 2015

Russian president Vladimir Putin promises action against anyone found guilty of abetting a doping programme and orders an internal investigation.

Russia provisionally banned from athletics

Nov 13, 2015

The IAAF has announced it has provisionally suspended the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) as a member with immediate effect.